Regional

12:49 pm

Sat July 19, 2014

Communities Help Migrants

As thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children have poured into the U.S., community leaders from Dallas to Los Angeles to Syracuse are offering to set up temporary shelters to relieve the Army bases, holding cells and converted warehouses at the border.

In Dallas County, Judge Clay Jenkins has offered three county buildings that could hold up to 2,000 migrants. He says the offer comes from compassion, not politics. Communities in other states are offering to build or rehab facilities.

The outreach stands in sharp contrast to other places around the country, where some have protested having immigrants from Central America come to their towns.

The Border Patrol says more than 57,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended since October. President Obama has asked Congress for $3.7 billion to deal with the issue.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.